THE QUAD; College Basketball Coaches Protest Packet Pricing

By PETE THAMEL

Published: August 2, 2009

The e-mail messages and calls came flooding in after an article about college basketball coaches who accused tournament directors of price gouging appeared Monday in The New York Times.

A popular target was Antonio Curro, the sports director of NY2LA, who ran a tournament in Milwaukee and charged college coaches $250 for a packet that essentially doubled as admission. Curro's confrontational style, which included canvassing the
gym to make sure every coach was carrying a packet, rubbed a lot of coaches the wrong way.

The feedback came in earnest from smaller colleges. In an effort to make money off N.C.A.A. basketball's bluebloods, tournament directors like Curro handcuffed programs with tiny budgets. Curro did not return a call seeking comment.

Derrick McDowell, an assistant at Eastern Michigan, was removed from the gym after he told people at the tournament's entrance that he did not need to pay $250 for a packet of rosters and contact information because he knew who he was recruiting.

McDowell said Curro followed him out of the gym, where he paid the $250. The kicker was a $12.50 fee for using a credit card.

''It's very disturbing; it's almost a form of blackmail,'' Eastern Michigan Coach Charles Ramsey said of charging for packets as an entrance fee. ''It's not about having the money. It's the ethics behind
it.''

Smaller colleges are in a particular bind. Several Division III coaches paid $250 to watch games in Milwaukee. For coaches like Chris Conger at Lake Forest College in Illinois, the money came out of his pocket; he said his recruiting budget was less than
$3,000.

''I do think something needs to be done,'' Conger said. ''I'm all for free enterprise, but this isn't really free enterprise. You shouldn't have events only certain coaches can attend.''

Kevin Weiberg, the chief executive of iHoops, a joint venture between the N.C.AA. and the N.B.A., called the issue problematic in a phone interview last week. What may be tricky, Weiberg said, is whether the N.C.A.A., which approves the tournaments, has
the right to control prices.nytimes.com/thequad

PHOTO: Coaches have paid $250 for some packets that doubled as the price of admission.(PHOTOGRAPH BY ISAAC BREKKEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)